


A Little Unsteady

by nagi_schwarz



Series: The Oppenheimer Effect [75]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M, Multi, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-10 12:32:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10437819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Stargate Atlantis, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay,HoldHold onHold on to me'Cause I'm a little unsteadyA little unsteady(X Ambassadors)"Major Naomi Cartwright witnesses Hurricane McKay up close and firsthand - and the aftermath, when all is said and done.





	

One thing no one under the Mountain enjoyed was Rodney McKay’s diva attitude. It was a universally-recognized truth, that Rodney McKay’s only intellectual peer was Samantha Carter, but the way he laid into people when they didn’t meet his standards was aggravating. Yes, when it was a life-or-death situation, incompetence was unacceptable, but when things were tense, yelling didn’t help people work faster or better.  
  
Naomi had never been on Rodney’s side, though. Not like this. But she and John walked shoulder-to-shoulder with him when he swept into the hospital and unleashed Hurricane McKay in the ER.  
  
“I need to speak to whoever is in charge of the medical care for Cameron Mitchell, Tyler Mitchell, Evan Lorne, and Jonathan Nealson.” Rodney marched straight up to the desk.  
  
The nurse looked at him, unimpressed.  
  
Rodney said, “It’s a matter of national security.”  
  
The nurse continued to look unimpressed.  
  
Rodney said, “I am listed as their next of kin.”  
  
The nurse pushed a clipboard across the desk. “Fill this out -”  
  
“I am not the one with a medical emergency. I need to find my family and I need to find them _now_.” Rodney pushed his driver’s license across the desk.  
  
“Fill this out _first_ -”  
  
Rodney reached into his pocket, fished out his cellphone, and unlocked it with a swipe of his thumb. “Get me Naoe. Yes, I know it’s the middle of the night. He’s awake. Trust me. Yes, it’s an emergency. Major Mitchell, Major Lorne, JD, and Tyler - yes, thank you.”  
  
The nurse tapped the clipboard with a pen pointedly.  
  
Naomi glanced at John, who shrugged. Woolsey’s expression was dangerously blank, contemplative. He was taking everything in, mind working at a mile a minute, analyzing and making conclusions. He was like a soldier getting ready to step into battle.  
  
Rodney leaned across the desk. “Yes, Naoe, so glad you live up to the stereotypes of over-caffeinated gamers. I need you to hack into the system at Memorial Hospital in Topeka, Kansas and tell me what’s going on with the Mitchells, Lorne, and JD. Yes, I will buy you a twelve-pack of those fiendish energy drinks. All right. We will start in the ER. You’re the best.” Rodney pocketed his cellphone and nodded at Naomi. “Let’s go.”  
  
The nurse stared at her computer in alarm. “Sir, you can’t -”  
  
“Yes I can.” Rodney swept toward the double-doors that led into the ER.  
  
Naomi followed. She kept her posture textbook officer, walking along with John and Woolsey behind Rodney.  
  
She stepped back and let him and Woolsey let loose on the police officers and detectives who had JD cuffed to a bed. Once Woolsey had things with the police in hand with JD, it was time to check on the others.  
  
First stop: Tyler. Who was sitting in a random recovery room on a random floor. He was blinking sleepily, trying to keep himself awake.  
  
He was on his feet as soon as he saw them. It broke Naomi’s heart, to see his bruised face. He flung himself into Rodney’s arms, and Rodney held him so, so tightly for a moment. Then Rodney kissed him on the forehead and stepped back.  
  
“Stay with John,” he said.  
  
“Where’s Cammie and JD?”  
  
“JD will be fine. We’re going to find Cammie next.”  
  
John pulled Tyler close, wrapped an arm around him, held him close. Tyler clung to him while they headed for the elevators.  
  
A nurse in blue scrubs paused. “Hey, where are you going?”  
  
“He’s going to see his father,” Rodney said. “Up in the ICU.”  
  
“But you haven’t been discharged,” the young man protested.  
  
Rodney rolled his eyes. “He’s not leaving hospital property. He’s just going to visit another patient.”  
  
Naomi led the way up to the ICU. Dr. Lynn was Cam’s treating physician, and she said he was stable enough for visitors, but not many, only briefly. Rodney managed to convince her to let Tyler stay with his father. John stayed with him.  
  
Rodney and John exchanged significant looks. Vala was on her way.  
  
Now to find Evan.  
  
Evan was in a locked psych ward. Violent PTSD episode, attacked a police officer, needed to be sedated.  
  
Dr. Zabriskie reported that Evan had been hallucinating.  
  
“About what?” Rodney asked.  
  
“That’s confidential.” Zabriskie pressed her lips into a thin line.

Rodney leaned in and said, “I am not well-known for my patience. Either you tell me what I need to know, or I get a flock of reporters down here and have a loud and messy press conference about how your hospital staff stonewalled the family of a national hero and engaged in systematic homophobia, which will result in horrifying press and possibly a cascade of lawsuits. This is a small neighborhood, and this hospital is probably the best medical care people can get in a rather wide radius, and shutting it down would be unfortunate, but what is also unfortunate is the systemic bigotry that has infected every level of public service and has put my family in mortal peril, and I am more than willing to shut down this small-town shack of hacks if it means saving my family. So you tell me what I want to know, and you tell me now.”  
  
Zabriskie’s eyes went wide, and she flushed angrily. “Who the hell do you think you are, coming onto _my_ ward and making demands about my patients?”  
  
“Evan Lorne was involved in extensive classified military operations,” Naomi said, stepping forward. “If _any_ of that information has been disclosed, there could be catastrophic ramifications. I need to know what he said and I need to know who he said it to.” She hoisted her briefcase onto Zabriskie’s desk and flipped it open, drew out one of many stacks of NDA paperwork. “And I need you to sign this.”  
  
Zabriskie stared. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”  
  
Naomi handed her a pen. “This is no laughing matter.”  
  
Zabriskie pressed her lips into a thin line. “I refuse.”  
  
“Either you sign, or I call MPs and someone else can handle your patients,” Naomi said. She smiled sweetly, the smile she’d learned from Woolsey.  
  
“You’re serious.”  
  
Naomi said, “Dr. McKay, you have the base on speed dial, don’t you?”  
  
Zabriskie snatched the pen from her. “Fine. I’m doing this under protest.”   
  
Once she signed the paperwork, she let them see Evan, who was unconscious and strapped to a bed. Rodney demanded he be unrestrained. Once he’d been sedated, he’d demonstrated no aggression. Further restraint was unnecessary.  
  
Then Rodney demanded to speak to the officers who’d witnessed Evan’s episode, and Naomi had them all sign NDAs.  
  
While they were grumbling and signing their lives away, Rodney answered his cellphone. Vala had arrived. So it was back down to the ICU to check on Cam and browbeat Dr. Lynn into letting JD and Vala treat Cam with the goa’uld healing device.  
  
When all was said and done, the baffled Dr. Lynn discharged Cam for transfer, declaring him stable enough for travel. They would take him back to the Mountain. Cam’s parents arrived just in time to see him before the SGC’s medical team bundled him into a chopper, and then they took Tyler and Vala home with them. JD was staying with Evan, in clear violation of hospital visiting hours, but Zabriskie didn’t dare protest.  
  
And finally, finally when it was all done, it was just the three of them. Rodney, John, and Naomi. The doctors and nurses and detectives and police officers dispersed, and it was only the three of them, standing in the hallway outside the psych ward. Job done. Family protected. Family safe. Family ready to go home.  
  
“Rodney?” John asked. “You okay?”  
  
Rodney swayed on his feet.  
  
Naomi started forward, alarmed.   
  
John caught him. “You hypoglycemic?”  
  
“Just - a little unsteady,” Rodney said.  
  
John glanced at Naomi. “Go find him some food?”  
  
Naomi nodded, backed away slowly.  
  
Rodney sank into John’s arms. “Hold on, okay? Hold onto me.” He buried his face against John’s neck and began to tremble.  
  
John held him tightly, murmured soothing noises.  
  
Naomi hurried for the elevator, let them have their privacy. Even the great Rodney McKay could fall apart.


End file.
